The Fabulous Killjoys
by ChloeKilljoy
Summary: The Fabulous Four killjoys  MCR members  find more than they expect when they meet Bandit, an OC
1. Chapter One Bandit

**Chapter One**

**Bandit**

I ran.

It was all I could do and I hated it.

_We were at the table. Mom came over, carrying a plain white bowl containing the soup she had spent all afternoon preparing. Dad was putting away his newspaper, getting ready to eat. I made a joke, something stupid about Mom's cooking probably. We all laughed, and Mom put down the bowl, grabbed the newspaper Dad had just put down and swatted me on the head playfully, telling me I shouldn't say such things._

_Then they came._

I ran.

I forced the memory away, I couldn't afford to get emotional at a time like this. I needed to get away, if I wanted to survive I needed to hide.

_A knock at the door. We all look at it. Nobody calls around at this time of day, what if they got seen? Or worse, what if They were on patrol? Anyone on the streets would be vaporised, without a doubt. They were ruthless, heartless, and just downright cruel..._

_I could feel my heart pounding in my chest._

My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to fly right through my ribcage. I slowed, looking for a place to hide in this God-forsaken desert.

Wait… desert?

I froze. Desert meant only one thing.

Danger Zone.

If I was found out here, there would be no hope for me at all. I would be vaporised on the spot - no chance of explanation.

_Mom walked slowly to the door. Her eyes were wider than I thought was possible. Her voice trembled as she spoke, trying and failing to sound normal._

"_Who is it?" she called out._

_Silence._

Silence.

I looked around me quickly, and to my relief, there was nobody within eyesight. I took another good look, and saw a pile of rocks on my right. They weren't exactly close, but I was sure I could hide out behind those for a while.

I started to walk over, and after a few steps I stopped. Was that a cloud of dust that just floated out from the rocks? Was that a whisper I heard, or merely the light breeze in my ears?

My voice trembled as I spoke, not even trying to sound normal.

"Who's there? Who's hiding?" I called out.

_Mom reached the door and stood in front of it. She called out again, but there came no reply. She reached towards the handle._

"_Mom, no don't!" I cried out, scared They were going to be behind the door._

_Dad scolded me. "Bandit, hush! Don't worry your mother any more. Whoever is there needs help." He leaned forward, and whispered to me "If it is Them, run as far as you can. Save yourself, and I'll hold them back." He spoke in Spanish, so Mom didn't understand what he was saying. I nodded and murmured a quick "Si" of understanding, blinking back tears._

The tears were back, and this time I couldn't stop them. They came suddenly, and furiously. Before I knew it I was on my hands and knees, sobbing. I was losing control of my body. I fought, trying to stop my tears, but I had gone too far to stop. I gave in, and allowed my body to curl up and collapse , and my screams to become feral howls full of pain and hate.

_Mom's hand reached out to the door handle again, and Dad and I stood up at the table, he ready to protect, I ready to run._

_Mom grasped the handle, and looked at Dad. The look in her eyes was one of love, fear and pain. She then looked at me, trying to look reassuring._

_She opened the door._

_They were there, guns held at shoulder level, aiming to kill. The anonymous murderers. Death had found us at last._

_Mom screamed, somewhere between a scream of anger and hate, and one of fear and sadness._

_Dad ran behind her, only to yell himself and curse at them._

_Before they had chance to see me, I ran. We had a backdoor, so I ran to it, threw it open and ran out of the house as fast as I could. Just as I made it to the door, there were flashes of white light, and Mom's screams were silenced, shortly followed by Dad's._

_I sprinted out of the house before they could find me._

_Before the effects of what had just happened could hit me._

I came back to reality, and found my face covered with wet grime and sand, I was writing on the ground and I had sand in all my clothes.

I was a mess.

I just lay there for a while, wondering how much longer I would last in the Danger Zone. I closed my eyes.

And before I could open them again, they were covered with a blindfold, I was lifted up so it could be tied tightly behind my head. It dug into my eyes, hurting them. My hands were forced behind my back and tied. Whoever was stealing me lifted me to my feet, and made me walk, holding on to one of my arms and gently pushing me in the right direction.

I didn't know where they were taking me. They may have been leading me to freedom, or to my early grave.

But I really didn't care.


	2. Chapter Two Gerard

**Chapter Two**

**Gerard**

There was something wrong in that small, suburban town. We're hidden, of course, but I can't shake the feeling something's out there…

Not too long ago, Ray had spotted an Exterminator and a group of draculoids heading into the town. This had unsettled me; the time of routine inspections had long ended and passed, but that didn't mean they had completely stopped. And not long after, he was sure he had heard screams, although that could have just been noise coming through the Transmitter. Frank was messing around with it again, seeing if the radio show would come through. He had had no luck so far, but it might just be that the host hadn't found a safe Zone to broadcast from. Poor guy must be more Wanted than any of us.

I froze. Was that a noise? Was someone out there? A draculoid? Or worse, the Exterminator? Once I had that thought in my head, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even breathe properly. Had he heard me? Or did he hear the Transmitter hissing and crackling away?

I listened intently. No, nothing now. Quickly, I turned around, difficult considering the massive rock we were hiding behind was sticking into my back, thumped Frank on the arm, and hissed "Fun Ghoul, turn that goddamn thing off, you'll get us all killed!"

He looked up at me, carelessly flicking the switch and killing the static. "What's up, Gee?" he said in hushed tones, but not quiet enough for my liking.

I thumped him again. "Shut the fuck up, dumbass! I think we have a mother fucking Exterminator on our ass!"

His face fell, and he then turned to poke Mikey and Ray, and quickly whispered my concerns. They looked puzzled. I shifted towards them to explain the situation, and just after I started whispering, we heard something else.

"Who's there? Who's hiding?"

We all froze. That sure as hell wasn't an Exterminator.

That was a girl.

I looked across at where I had been, and saw a small cloud of dust floating out, dissipating into nothingness. I internally cursed at myself – I must have kicked it up when I turned to Mikey and Ray. And now we were going to be caught. My heart had almost stopped beating.

We sat in silence, terrified this person would walk around the corner, see what we were and run screaming back to the town, where the Exterminator would surely come for us. It was a few minutes before we heard anything else. It was a strange sound, like someone was being choked and drowned at the same time. But we sat tight, still as the rock we hid behind, and waited for them to stop. This could be a trap, a draculoid with a prisoner leading us out, so we could be killed.

Well, not today, buddy.

After a couple more minutes, there was a muffled 'thud' as something made contact with the sandy terrain. Then came the screams, so wild and uncontrolled. Almost haunting. We had heard them many times before, and I looked over to the rest of the guys. All three looked back at me, with knowledge and pain in their eyes. I nodded, and they returned the gesture.

Cautiously, I turned around, raised my raygun, and slowly stood. The first thing I saw was the dreary landscape; plain sand, dull skies and a grey, miserable excuse of a town in the backdrop. What I then saw was not what I had expected. Yes, it was in fact a young girl, early 20s at a quick guess, but she was squirming, no, thrashing in the sand below her, making screams and howls so chilling it gave me goosebumps. I motioned to the others it was safe, and they drew their rayguns and stood also, looking pitifully at the girl. We watched her for a couple of minutes; then she calmed, rolled over and closed her eyes as she wiped the grime from her face. She kept her eyes closed once her face was somewhat clean, and after a while I gestured to the others to come closer.

"Fun Ghoul, I want you to get that Transmitter up and running, contact Crash Lithium, tell him there's another one. Jet Star, Kobra Kid, usual positions, but don't take any crap from her. We don't want a repeat of the last girl we found, that almost got us killed." I paused. "Again." I added as an afterthought. They nodded, Frank got to work on the Transmitter, and Ray, Mikey and I crept around the rock pile we had as a temp "safe place". As we drew closer on the girl, we surrounded her. Mikey pulled out his bandana, and I followed suit. We rolled them into cords, and closed in on her. Ray grabbed her and held her still as I put the 'blindfold' on her. He lifted her so I could tie it, and Mikey tied his 'cord' around her wrists, making sure she couldn't attack us.

There was almost no resistance from her, like she wanted to be found. This thought unnerved me, but then it occurred to me. Those howls, those tortured, pain-filled howls. It must have been her or someone close to her who had been exterminated, so she probably didn't give a shit anymore. I don't blame her.

And looking at her face, I could see she was younger than I first thought – she must have been about 16, 14 at the youngest, 18 at the oldest. She was just beginning to see the world for its true horrors.

I felt a small pang of regret. I shouldn't have been so rough with her; im sure I hurt her at some point. Ray led her back to the rock pile quickly, and Mikey and I followed them, ensuring nobody had seen us.

We got back to Frank, who was just finishing up on the Transmitter.

"… Zone 5? Better than Zone 1 anyway. Fun Ghoul over and out." He put the speaker back in its place and looked at us. "You got that, Gee? Zone 5, soon as. He's waiting at the border for us, in the gas station." I looked down at him. "Good job, Fun Ghoul, glad you got hold of him so soon. But for our own safety, will you please use our fucking code names? You're gonna get us all bloody murdered in our beds."

"Sorry Gee- I mean Party Poison. It's just hard to get used to, you know?" he gave me that soppy, puppy-dog look in an attempt to make me laugh.

"You pull that face one more time and I swear, I'm gonna fucking punch it off." I said, despite the massive grin that had grown on my face.

He returned the grin. "Yessir!" he said. "Better get off though, Crash Lithium doesn't like to hang around for long, and I said we'd be there soon as. Which of course he takes for almost immediately." He rolled his eyes.

Mikey piped up "Yeah, and we've seen him pissed off. I don't wanna be on the receiving end of that shit." I nodded in agreement. "Jet Star, go grab the car and we'll head outta this shithole."

We waited behind that rock pile as Ray found the car from behind another, similar but slightly larger rock pile. We put the girl in the back with Ray and Frank, Mikey in the passenger side, and me in the driving seat. After we had been driving for a while, Frank lifted the girl's blindfold.

"Hey there, girly, how're you doing? Holding up ok?" He used his cheery "don't-worry-its-not-really-the-apocalypse" tone of voice, which is enough to calm anyone's fears momentarily.

"Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck are you?" She didn't scream, just spoke calmly as if she were asking where the bathroom was. But her voice trembled a little. She had a lot of control, but this was clearly too much for her.

"Tell me your name, sweetie, and just how old are you? You look, like, 12." He gave a short, nervous laugh, again trying to keep her calm. He wasn't used to someone so outspoken this early. Usually they cried, begged to be taken home, and were just generally scared. This girl was fucking pissed, and I could tell he didn't like it.

She considered him for a while, glaring at him, almost assessing him, before saying "Bandit. Now who are you rainbow twats?"

Yeah. She was really pissed.

"I'm Fun Ghoul. This here is Jet Star, passenger seat is Kobra Kid, and the fucking maniac driver is Party Poison." Frank was clearly getting mad at her now. Again, Mikey piped up. "We're rebellions against the freaking monsters who run our lives. We're-"

She gasped, and almost screamed "Are you fucking kidding me? You guys are Killjoys?" She stared at me in my mirror, and I gave her a dirty look and said "You got a fucking problem with that?"

She stared at me open-mouthed for a while, and then sat back in her seat and said "Nah, that's cool" as if commenting on the weather.

I briefly looked at Frank in the mirror, who gave me an exasperated look and shrugged. I grinned at him, thinking "Aren't you in for a fun ride?"


	3. Chapter Three Bandit

**Chapter Three**

**Bandit**

Killjoys. Freaking Killjoys.

I couldn't believe I was actually in the car with 4 Killjoys! This is possibly the best this that could have happened to me right now. This meant that I could finally show those murderers that they can't get away with this shit. I could be trained, I could actually become a Killjoy myself!

We stopped when it got dark; if we tried driving with our lights on we'd be caught within minutes. The guys pulled some blankets and stuff from under the car seats, lay them out on the ground and pretty much settled down for the night. They found a spare one for me, and I lay down to sleep close to the car. For some reason, I found its large, bulky presence comforting. I couldn't sleep for a while, and long after the rest of them had fallen asleep I rolled onto my back and gazed up at the hundreds of thousands of beautiful yet lonely stars. I sighed sadly, knowing just how they must feel.

"Whatcha thinking about, little girlie?" A voice piped up from somewhere on my right. It was the blonde guy who pretty much always wore sunglasses. He kept his voice low, so he didn't wake the others. Unsurprisingly he wasn't wearing his sunglasses now, and I could see he had hazel, almost amber eyes.

I looked into them. "Let's get something straight here; I am not a little girl. I'm 17 years old, and I do not like it when people patronise me. 'Kay?" I glared at him, and he smirked at me.

"Hey, it's only a joke, just teasing." He pulled a face, sticking his tongue out at me. I couldn't help but giggle; his expression was just so goofy, so silly, so ridiculously cute, I couldn't stop myself.

He smiled back at me. "You're ok? I can understand this must be very strange for you, being randomly taken away from your home, but I'm sure you'll-"

"Home? What home? I haven't had a real home since those bastards came along and fucked everything up." I spat the words out like venom, hoping it would take some of my bitterness away. "To be honest with you…" I looked at him inquisitively.

"Oh, I'm Kobra Kid." He paused. "But my name's Mikey. Mikey Way." He gave me a very serious look, and I nodded slightly. "Yeah, I know how dangerous it is for me to know your real name, and I'm glad you trust me with it." I flashed him a quick smile. "But yeah, to be honest I'm relieved you guys found me before anyone else."

"Really? You must be one of the only ones. I know there are so many people who would rather be found by the draculoids than by us 'criminals'." His face grew even more serious, and he looked away from me.

I was silent for a moment. "My name's Bandit, by the way." He looked at me again.

"Bandit?" "Yeah..." I giggled. "My Dad loved anything that was unusual, and that included names. Although, I do like having such a unique name." I smiled to myself sadly.

"Was?" He looks at me sadly, and I nodded. He must have known I didn't want to talk about it, and left it at that.

"The guy who's vertically challenged with black hair, that's Fun Ghoul, real name's Frank Iero. The not-so-vertically challenged guy with the awesome afro is Jet Star, and his name's Ray Toro. The one with red hair is Party Poison, and he's called Gerard. He's my brother." He sounded proud to announce that, and gave me a sheepish grin as he said it.

"And if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm gonna come over there and make myself an only child, got it?" A grumpy voice came from far on Mikey's right, and we looked at each other and giggled silently.

"Better get some sleep, missy." He winked at me, then lay down on his other side and went to sleep.

I did the same, turning away from him and gazed out into the never-ending darkness of the desert. And I couldn't help but smile to myself as I replayed that conversation in my head.

I remember my last thought to be "I think I prefer 'missy' to 'little girl'." And then I surrendered to the unknown, and slept.


	4. Chapter Four Gerard

**Chapter Four**

**Gerard**

Well, she certainly didn't seem too thrilled that we'd brought her along. For most of the journey she just sat in the back with her arms crossed, looking bored. Bored. How the hell can someone be bored in a situation like this?

I looked in the mirror again, and yep, there she was with her arms crossed and that goddamn blank expression on her face, still bored. I sighed and turned away, focussing on the "road" ahead of us. None of us had said anything since we first picked her up and Frank's foolproof charms had failed him for the first time. He was sulking, too. God knows why, he usually bounces back no matter how many times he's knocked. Ah well, I just let them get on with it and don't stir shit.

I kept driving for a long time, until it went dark and we were forced to camp out for the night.

I fell asleep pretty quick, but I was woken up again not long later by the sound of hushed voices. I kept still at first, even keeping my eyes closed in case it was the draculoids or Exterminator, but pretty soon I identified the voices to be none other than the girl we picked up and little Mikey. I blocked them out for a while, but at some point I started listening in.

"…those bastards came along and fucked everything up." Woah, she sounded pissed. Again. 'Is she always like this?' I found myself wondering, allowing my mind to wander to other subjects, before I started listening in again.

"...name's Bandit, by the way."

"Bandit?" I couldn't help but smile at that. Bandit; what a name. It's cute and yet defiant at the same time, and pretty characteristic.

"Yeah…" And she giggled. "My Dad loved anything that was unusual, and that included names. Although, I do like having such a unique name."

"Was?" I could hear the sadness in Mikey's voice as he put the pieces together. There was a slight awkward pause, and then Mikey changed subject. "The guy who's vertically challenged with black hair, that's Fun Ghoul, real name's Frank Iero. The not-so-vertically challenged guy with the awesome afro is Jet Star, and his name's Ray Toro. The one with red hair is Party Poison, and he's called Gerard. He's my brother."

I started to panic. He's giving out way too much information, if she turns out to be a spy or a rogue he could have us all killed. Christ, he can be way too trusting. Worse than bloody Frank.

Although, I had to admit, I could hear how proud he sounded to reveal I'm his brother, which made me happy.

"And if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm gonna come over there and make myself an only child, got it?" I had to let him know he was losing it, getting too comfy with the newbie. He must have got the message, 'cos he muttered something to Bandit and they both quietened down after that.

I turned over again and soon went back to sleep.

When I woke up next, the sun had just started to rise, and the others were still asleep. I started packing up my things, then went for a short walk, just to think about the day ahead. I walked for a couple of minutes, so I could still be seen from the car, sat down and just relaxed.

I lost track of time before I heard a voice behind me.

"There's not that much to look at around here, is there?" it was that girl, what was her name, Bandit. I turned to look at her, but didn't say anything. She sighed, stood in front of me and knelt down so our eyes were level.

"Have I pissed you off somehow? Or do you just never speak?" She looked at my face, studying it. Trying to figure me out, I guess. I remained silent.

"Look, what's with you, man? I haven't done anything, you were the ones who kidnapped me, I didn't ask for any of this shit-"

"Don't start getting pissy with me, little girl." I glared at her. "So you're gonna tell me you'd rather be living out there, in the perfect fucking world? Cos if that's what you want, we'll just drive past a group of draculoids and throw you out of the car, you got it?" "I never said this isn't what I wanted, hell this is the best thing that could have happened! Killjoys! This means I'll be able to get back at those bastards. That is, if you'll teach me…" She fell silent.

"Of course we will; if we wanna destroy them we need as many Killjoys as possible. BL/ind's gonna be a hell of a company to take down, and at the moment we're seriously outnumbered." I looked away from her, but heard her sit down in front of me.

"So, when do I start training?" I started messing around with the sand, making small hills. "As soon as we get back to our base. Which won't be for another day, at least." I looked up at her again, and was surprised to see she was still staring at my face. I looked into her eyes, and she looked away blushing slightly. I watched her for a while. She was avoiding my eyes, still slightly blushing.

"I think we ought to start heading back. The others might-" As she looked up at me again I leant in, and gently planted a kiss on her lips. Her lips felt so soft, I was worried that I would hurt them if we kissed any more. But as I started to pull away, I felt her return the kiss, lightly at first as if she were testing me, then harder.

We broke apart, and she refused to look me in the eye. She stood up, walked around me and stopped after a few steps. I turned to see what she had stopped at, and saw Frank standing there looking embarrassed.

"Uh, Ray- I mean, Jet Star- wanted me to come find you. We're packing up and leaving." He also refused to look at me, and he turned and walked away slowly.

I nodded. "We'll be there in a sec." I called after him, but Bandit had already started following him back to the car. I sighed. What the hell did I do that for? I had known her for less than a day, what the hell was I playing at?

I shook my head, stood up and heading towards the car. I got back to the group, to see Bandit chatting to Mikey, giggling and making him smile, wearing his sunglasses. He looked up at me as I rejoined the group, and he smiled at me. Simply smiled. It made my insides squirm inside me. I hadn't seen him smile like that since all this shit began. And he had that look in his eyes; the one I haven't seen for years.

Whatever I may have felt or not felt for Bandit, I had to make sure nothing like that happened again. I couldn't do it to Mikey; I love him too much.

I avoided Bandit for the rest of the time we spent packing up, staying with Frank. It didn't seem long until we were back on the road, this time with Frank riding shotgun, and Ray, Mikey and Bandit in the back.

I drove off into the desert without looking back.


	5. Chapter Five Bandit

**Chapter Five**

**Bandit**

He sure looked lonely sitting out there by himself. I had not long woken up, but I could tell from the way Gerard was sitting that he had been there a while. He was sitting with his back to me, his blood red hair being blown around in a gentle breeze. I sighed to myself and walked up to him, calling out to him just before I drew level with him.

"There's not that much to look at around here, is there?" He turned and gave me a 'do-we-really-have-to-do-this?' kind of look. I stood there and folded my arms as he turned away again, so I walked in front of him and knelt down, looking in his eyes. "Have I pissed you off somehow? Or do you just never speak?" I looked at his face trying to figure out what he was thinking. But of course, I didn't have a clue. I had known him for like a day after all. When he didn't respond and just gave me another dirty look, I just sighed again and said "Look, what's with you, man? I haven't done anything, you were the ones who kidnapped me, I didn't ask for any of this shit-

"Don't start getting pissy with me, little girl." Gerard interrupted me. "So you're gonna tell me you'd rather be living out there, in the perfect fucking world? Cos if that's what you want, we'll just drive past a group of draculoids and throw you out of the car, you got it?"

'Shit,' I thought. 'If looks could kill…' "I never said this isn't what I wanted, hell this is the best thing that could have happened! Killjoys! This means I'll be able to get back at those bastards. That is, if you'll teach me…" I stopped, suddenly aware that he could easily say I wasn't going to get any training, and that he was going to leave me in this god-forsaken desert.

Thankfully, this was not the case. "Of course we will; if we wanna destroy them we need as many Killjoys as possible. BLI/nd's gonna be a hell of a company to take down, and at the moment we're seriously outnumbered." He looked down , Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in front of him, watching him making little hills with the sand around us. "So, when do I start training?" I looked at his face again, taking in his liquid-gold eyes, the subtle colour in his cheeks, and the softness of his lips…

"As soon as we get back to our base, which won't be for another day, at least." He looked away from the mountain range he had built and straight into my eyes. I looked away blushing. I can't believe I'm even thinking about how he kisses, I don't even think of him in that way. Maybe it's just because he's the physical interpretation of my rebellious attitude; so wrong it's right. Or maybe it's simply because he reminds me of his brother…

This was starting to get awkward. I was aware of him watching me, and thought it was a good time to go. "I think we ought to start heading back. The others might-" Before I could finish, Gerard leant forward and softly kissed my lips. As soon as his lips made contact with mine, a bolt of electricity shot through my body, alerting all my nerve endings and making my skin crawl in delight. He started to pull away, and before I knew what I was doing I was kissing him back, harder than he kissed me. We soon pulled away from each other, and I couldn't look at him. I was scared. What had just happened? Did this mean I really did like him? And what about Mikey? He was the one I liked, and I got the impression he kind of liked me too. So what was this gonna do to him when he finds out? I stood up and walked past him, feeling sick in my stomach, and then I looked up to see one of the other guys – Frank, was it? – looking at me and Gerard with a strange look on his face, somewhere between embarrassed and awkward. "Uh, Ray- I mean, Jet Star- wanted me to come find you. We're packing up and leaving." As he spoke, he kept looking at me, as if trying to avoid looking at Gerard. He turned and started to walk back to the car, and I immediately followed him. I didn't want to be left alone with him again, I didn't want to risk anything else happening, or even just talking to him about it. I heard him say "We'll be there in a sec." and then sigh. He must have realised I'd gone without him. I just wanted to get away from him, and walked back in silence without looking back.

When I got back to the car everyone was busy. I stood there with Mikey, just trying to keep out of the way. Everyone had their own tasks to complete, and I just wanted to be out of the way and as little a burden as possible. So I just talked with Mikey for a while, making him laugh and stealing his sunglasses. When Gerard got back, I gave him a quick glance and then looked away again, looking up at Mikey. He was turned to look at Gerard, giving him a dazzling smile that made my insides wriggle around, and then he looked back down at me. The way he looked at me made my stomach do backflips, my heart stop dead and my mind turn to mush. I looked up at him, and he noticed me looking and met my gaze. I knew what I had to do, even if it hurt him momentarily.

I braced myself. "Mikey, I need to talk to you."

"Mikey, please say something." We were sitting away from the others, Mikey was facing me but wouldn't look at me; he just stared down at his boots. "I'm sorry, Mikey, I really am." After a few minutes he looked up at me and said "Why should you be sorry? I mean, we've known each other less than a day, and all we've been doing is flirting. It's not like we're dating or anything, you can do whatever the hell you want." He looked into my eyes, and I could see his eyes swimming in tears. My own eyes started to overflow, blinked away my tears and said to him "I don't even like him, Mikey, it's you I like. I don't know what happened it just-"

"Please, don't say it 'Just Happened'. It not even the fact it happened that upsets me, but Bandit, he's my brother. Fuck that, he's my best friend." I heard him take a shaky breath. "At least now we can just forget this happened."

I looked up at him again, not daring to let myself even hope. "What do you mean, have I screwed everything up between us? All I want is a chance to be yours Mikey, I know it's been a day since we met but I think we just seem to click, to fit together." "No, Bandit, I don't mean we can't happen. What I mean is if we really want this to work, we can't let this mess us up. It's not that big a deal. Just-" He sighed. "Just promise me this won't happen again, and that you don't actually feel anything for him?" He looked at me hopefully.

I could feel a grin spreading across my face. "Of course I don't, it's only you. I don't want anything between me and him." He returned the smile, moved next to me and wrapped his arm around my small waist. This time, it wasn't a flash of electricity I felt, it was fire. I felt a warmth spread from where his hand was on my hip, and his arm on my waist and back, all the way around my body, making me blush furiously. He saw my cheeks turning red, giggled slightly and gave me a soft peck on the cheek. I giggled too, and turned to face him, wrapping my arms around his neck. We stayed like that for a while, with our foreheads and noses touching, and it felt so nice to have someone holding me, and the fact that it was Mikey made it even better.

After a few minutes, we separated and headed back to the car. Everything was packed away, and we all piled into the car and drove off again. This time, Mikey rode in the back between me and Ray, and Frank rode shotgun with Gerard. For a while Mikey and I were cuddled up in the back of the car, but after a couple of hours or so, when we made a short stop, we pulled apart and Mikey went to talk to Gerard. Anxious, I kept close enough to keep an eye on them but far enough away not to hear anything being said, just in case fists started flying.

"Hey, Bandit, come here for a sec?" I turned to see Frank and Ray still standing by the car, Frank beckoning me over to them and Ray leaning against the car. I glanced back at Mikey and Gerard, just to be sure nothing was going to start between them, and walked over to Frank and Ray.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked Frank as soon as I reached them. He looked uncomfortable about something, and when I got there Ray looked up at me and said "Look, not that it's any of my business or anything, but you'd better not come between the Ways, got it? They're best friends, and don't trust anyone as much as each other." He paused. "Not even Mikey and you. So don't go messing everything up between them, ok?" He looked me in the eye, and I said "Of course, man, I wish the whole thing with Gerard hadn't happened, I hate knowing how much I've hurt Mikey already…" I fell silent as strange looks crept across their faces; Frank giving me a weird 'stop-talking-NOW!' look and Ray narrowed his eyes at me, and said "What thing with Gerard?"

I could feel a rush of panic surging around my body, and then I sighed and explained.

When I finished talking, Ray wiped at his mouth with concern, looked behind me at something, and said "Well, they must be closer than even I thought, it's as if there's nothing different between them." I turned around just in time to see Gerard wrestle Mikey to the sand-covered ground, only to be tripped up by one of Mikey's long lanky legs. I was ready to run over and pull them apart, but I could hear them laughing, and sure enough Gerard crawled over to Mikey and collapsed on top of him, both in fits of giggles. I glanced back at Frank, who said "They're always doing this, don't get too concerned."

At this point, Mikey and Gerard stood up, brushed themselves off and walked over to us. As soon as they reached us Mikey pulled me into a massive hug, resting his cheek on the top of my head and then gently kissing my hair. I snuggled close to him closing my eyes, and as I opened them again, I saw Gerard walking over to Frank and Ray, nodding to them, and then they all started getting back in the car. I nudged Mikey and led him back to the car. "Hey, is something up?" Mikey looked concerned as I settled down for another long drive. I smiled at him. "Nah, it's all good." I said and leant forward to kiss his cheek. He surprised me by turning his face so I caught his lips, and I blushed as he returned the kiss. We separated, and he slid his arm around my waist as Gerard started the car and started driving back into the desert.


	6. Chapter Six Gerard

**Chapter Six**

**Gerard**

While I was driving, I couldn't help but think about Bandit. From what had happened after our kiss, I could tell she thought it was a mistake. She had been avoiding me since it happened; she was always with Mikey, she wouldn't help me load anything into the car, and I don't think she'd even looked at me once. At some point during the drive, I concluded that it would be best to leave her alone, let her come talk to me when she was ready.

At least that way, I could be sure her and Mikey were solid.

I started to concentrate on where I was going again - not that there was a turn I could miss, or another car I could hit. But I had to make sure I was going in the right direction at least. I glanced in the mirror back at Bandit and Mikey, all cuddled up on the back seat, and flashed a huge grin at Ray, who was squished against the side of the car, sitting as far from the cute couple as possible. I then turned to Frank in the passenger seat, gave him a quick smile and carried on driving. It wouldn't be long until we reached the base in Zone 5, where I knew Crash Lithium would be waiting for us, and I knew I should be getting there faster. I guess I just wanted to give Bandit as much free time as I could, knowing she would start vigorous training as soon as she got there. But if I didn't get a move on, I knew Crash Lithium would be in a real bad mood, which would make training so much harder for Bandit. I sighed and accelerated away.

The sand soon started to turn into an old tarmacked road, meaning we would soon be entering Zone 5, and sure enough, waiting at the border, was Crash Lithium. She stood there with her arms folded, her auburn hair blowing in the wind, making it difficult to see the electric blue streaks. Standing with her was another Killjoy and friend, Static Wire. It was easy to spot it was her, you couldn't miss the giant purple streak in the fringe of her short brown hair, and the top of her head only just reached Crash's shoulders. As we pulled up next to them and killed the engine, Crash lifted her arm and casually leaned it on Static's head, instantly infuriating her and making her swat the intruding arm away with a cry of "Off off off!" We all laughed, even Static, but Crash took her arm away and gave her a brief hug. I got out the car and gave Crash a hi-five. Thankfully she was in a good mood, and grasped my hand as a greeting.

"Hey Poison, how's it hanging?" Yep, she was in a very good mood. Probably the idea of training someone new, we usually got all those who wouldn't train properly at the other Zones. Crash was a good teacher, and even the most troublesome rebellious Killjoys-In-Training got whipped into shape quickly. She had a weird look on her face, and from what I could see she wouldn't stop looking over at Ray. Strange girl.

"Hey Party Poison, everything going ok?" Static said to me shyly, blushing slightly in the process. Bless her, she's such a cute kid. She hates being thought of like a kid, but when she has a face like that it's almost impossible to think otherwise.

"Sure, everything's great. Uh, Bandit, over here?" I said over my shoulder, not quite looking at her. She obediently hopped out of the car and came and stood next to me, making sure she was far enough from me so she wouldn't brush my arm accidentally. She then looked across to the other two girls and have them a quick grin, each of them giving her a warm smile in return.

"This is Crash Lithium and Static Wire. Guys, this is Bandit." A brief introduction, hopefully Crash would understand that I wanted to get this training started as soon as possible, but that didn't seem to get across to her.

"So, Bandit huh? Cool name." Static looked up at her. "What made you choose it?"

"Choose what?" Bandit looked confused and looked at me, hoping I could explain.

"Oh, uh, guys Bandit is her real name, not her Killjoy name. We haven't done any training at all with her, thought we'd leave it to you guys."

"Yeah, we all know how grouchy Crash gets when she has to finish someone else's business!" Frank shouted over from the car, and they all laughed.

Crash sighed and walked over to their car, grabbing Static's arm and dragging her along with her, pausing briefly to glance back at Ray. "Guys, lets get going already! I can't stand waiting around, and we're losing precious time! We could be training this girl already, not standing around chatting like we have all the time in the world."

Ray piped up, "She's right guys, I thought we wanted to attack BL/ind as soon as we could, before they could figure out what we were doing?" He glanced over to Crash, caught her looking and they both looked away with awkward expressions on their faces.

"Alright, Bandit can you get back in the car please?" I said to her over my shoulder, and as she started walking away I turned to Crash and Static. "So we're gonna follow you guys to the base, don't drive too fast remember, we're trying to be inconspicuous."

We all got back in our cars, and just as I started up our Trans-Am, Crash and Static were driving past us, almost at the speed of light. I sighed and drove off after them, hoping there was nobody around to notice us.


	7. Chapter Seven Bandit

Man, training was tough! I had to go through drill after drill, over and over again. But I knew it was worth it. I trained as hard as I could, put in maximum effort, nobody tried harder than me. Soon, the drills became too easy, and Crash soon determined that I was ready to become a full Killjoy. Soon, I had designed my outfit, and we soon figured out my Killjoy name; Bandido. The Spanish translation of my name.

Everything was perfect.

After a few months, I decided I'd had enough. I couldn't take it anymore. I often went out on scouting patrols with Mikey and everyone else, but after a while I realised that I was the exception to the rule. Most of the kids we picked up didn't want to be taken and trained; they wanted to live their own life in the world BL/ind had created, which was an almost impossible task now. Any "strays", as the draculoids called them, were to be destroyed to 'tie up loose ends'. We were doing them a favour, rescuing them and giving them a new life, and yet they refuse to see this, making it as difficult as possible for us. I got fed up of doing it, and I soon had to make the difficult decision.

"Mikey, I have to tell you something." One night on patrol, I took him to one side while the others were settling down for the night.

"Sure, what's up Bandit?" He looked at me confused.

"Mikey, I'm leaving the group." His face dropped and he stared at me, trying to process what I had just said. "You're… you're leaving?" He whispered.

"Yes. I've thought about it for a while and I just can't do this anymore. I've seen the way the kids treat you, and I just can't stand it. When I became a Killjoy, I did it because I wanted to take down BL/ind, I wanted to destroy them. But we aren't doing anything to even begin to ruin them. And these kids that we're training, they don't want to do any of this, we're forcing them." Mikey looked at the ground and murmured "Bandit, please don't do this. Stay and we'll start making plans, we'll only take on kids who want to be Killjoys, Hell, we'll march our asses into the BL/ind HQ on a suicide mission if that's what it'll take to make you stay." His voice grew louder and angrier as he spoke, and soon I saw Ray's head move and look over at us. I shushed Mikey quickly. "Mikes, don't do this, I don't expect you to change anything, and I sure as Hell wouldn't ask you to go on a suicide mission for me. Not only would it achieve nothing, but it'd be a waste of the best Killjoys in this God-forsaken world." My eyes started swimming with tears, and I saw Mikey's bottom lip begin to quiver.

I pulled him into a tight embrace and whispered "I'm gonna miss you so much." He pulled away from me and said "No you won't, I'm coming with you." I shook my head. "I can't ask you to leave the others. Especially your brother, he needs you more than anything. And you need him." He looked at the ground, and I knew I'd found the one way to make him stay. "You need each other to live, and I don't wanna come between you guys. I'm going alone." I looked him in the eye, and I knew I had won.

We returned to the group and only got a questioning look from Ray, which we dismissed with a shake of our heads. No questions, no poking around. Good, I didn't want any attention about this. I just wanted to leave quietly, leaving as little memory of me as possible.

I promised Mikey I would stay until the morning, and it broke my heart to know I'd have to break that promise, and break his trust in me. As we settled down for the night, I cuddled up to him before we slept, and whispered "I love you Mikey." He looked into my eyes, kissed my cheek and whispered "I love you too, Bandit." And then we slept.

I slept for about 2 hours, and then I managed to wake myself up. I found Mikey's arms around my waist and his head resting on my neck. I felt a pang in my heart, knowing he'd hate me for doing this. It was difficult, but somehow I managed to pull myself out of his arms without him waking up, and before I knew it I had packed all my things together, and was standing in the middle of our camp looking at everyone sleeping. Gee looked so peaceful, his bright red hair partially covering his face, but not enough so I could see his mouth was slightly open and he was drooling a little. I laughed silently, taking a mental picture. Looking over at Ray, he was just lying on his side with his eyes closed, not looking particularly comfortable. Frankie slept beside him, curled up in a tight ball with a jacket half covering him. I leant over him to pull the jacket back onto him, and saw his thumb slightly in his mouth. This also made me laugh silently; who knew he still sucked his thumb in his sleep?

I was stood over him smiling to myself when his eyes fluttered open. He immediately looked up at me, and I put a finger to my lips. "I'm just going to the 'bathroom'." I lied. He nodded. "But why are you watching me sleep? It's kinda unnerving." He whispered back. "Your jacket fell off you. I was putting it back and I saw you sucking your thumb." I started giggling a little, and I could just see a little blush creeping across his face. "Please don't tell the others! I'll never hear the end of it." I mimed zipping my lips shut, then whispered "Don't worry, Gee drools in his sleep. At least you do something cute." He laughed quietly and settled back down to sleep. I walked over to where we kept the 'bathroom', and stayed there until I was sure he'd be asleep again; I didn't want him to catch me again.

When I got back everyone was fast asleep once more, I picked up my bag of stuff and walked out of the camp.

When I had walked so they couldn't see me, I took my pocket radio transmitter out of my bag and searched for the right signal. Once I had found it, I whispered into the microphone "Test, 102593, test. Signal clear and stable? Over." First, I got nothing but static back, but after a few minutes of crackling I heard quietly from the speaker "102593, test complete, no tracking devices found. Bandido? Over." "Affirmative, Bandido here. Am I talking to Astro Zombie? Over." A crackle from the speaker before "Astro Zombie here, all clear. Are you free? Over." "I've left the group, and only one knew I was leaving. He thought I was leaving tomorrow." My voice wobbled a bit, but I carried on. "Send coordinates for meeting point? Over." A small pause, and then Astro Zombie replied "Zone 6, route Guano, abandoned gas station halfway along the road. I will wait there for 36 hours, then I will assume capture and run. A satisfactory plan? Over." I thought about it. "Make it 48 hours? I have no car or other means of transport, and I'm unsure of how far into the desert I am. Over." More static as Astro Zombie thought over the new information. "Agreed. I shall wait around 48 hours, so until midnight 2 days from now, and then I shall run. Good luck on your journey, if you get captured give them no information about this and die with your mask on. Over and out." And the signal went dead as Astro Zombie turned off her transmitter, and I got up from the crouching position I found myself in.

I looked at my map, finding roughly where I was, found the direction I needed to go in, and headed off.

I looked back at where I knew Mikey and the rest were. They would soon be awake, and I had to run if I didn't want to be found.

I ran as fast as I could.


	8. Chapter Eight Gerard

"Left? What do you mean 'she left'?" I yelled at Mikey, who just looked down at the ground.

I had been awake for only 10 minutes before I realised something was wrong. Bandit was missing. I had run around the others, waking them up, jumping on them if necessary (how Frank sleeps so well in the desert I'll never know), screaming "They've taken her, they've taken Bandit, wake the fuck up!" Everyone had started scrambling around as soon as they realised, except Mikey. He just sat on his 'bed' sulking. That pissed me off. "Mikey, Bandit is missing and you're just sitting there sulking cos I fucking woke you up? What's the matter with you?" That's when he started crying. Ray and Frank looked at me, and I felt really bad, but I couldn't do anything now. We had to go find her.

"You know, I saw her in the night." My head snapped towards Frank, and he looked at me with a panicked look on his face. "She said she had woken up to go to the loo. What if they took her while she was alone?" His face dropped and he said "I should have gone with her, she wouldn't have been taken if there were two of us…" I shook my head. "No, even if you were there, the dracs would have-"

"She's not been captured." Silence. I looked at Mikey again, and saw his face in his hands. I walked over to him. "What?" He looked up at me and I saw tears roll down his cheeks. He brushed them away and sniffled. "She's not been captured. She left."

I ran my fingers through my hair. "Did she say why?" He nodded. "She said we weren't doing what she set out to do. She wanted to make a stand against BL/ind, not go out and find new Killjoys. And-" He looked me right in the eye. "And I can see her point. I mean, don't you ever get sick of grabbing random kids, and telling them they have to become like us? If we do that, we're no better than BL/ind." He stood up and walked away, and left me standing there unsure of what to do. I looked back to Ray and Frank. Frank just stood there looking shocked at everything that had unfolded, but Ray sighed and said "You know, if what Mikey said is true, she had a point. You've seen how we pretty much have to force them to be like us, and that's not what we set out to do." I nodded. "I know she's right, it's just… What else are we supposed to do? We don't have the force to take down BL/ind now, but the longer we wait the harder it's gonna be." I went and sat in the car for a few minutes to think. The others knew not to bother me.

I was messing around with our transmitter when Frank came over, accidentally kicking sand everywhere as he walked.

"You need a hand with that, Gee?" I looked up at him. "I've told you, use our codenames. And yeah, how the hell do you use this motherfucker?" He laughed at my potty-mouth, crouched down next to me and started twisting dials and flicking switches. Soon, the transmitter was beeping and flashing, spewing out static and small blasts of BL/ind reports. I smiled. "Frank, that's awesome, thank you so much!" He blushed a little. "Well you know I'm good with the techy stuff. And I've told you before, use our codenames." He stuck his tongue out at me, imitating me, and sat on the ground. "What're you using it for anyway?" I briefly said "You'll see, just keep quiet." Then I grabbed the speaker, tuned into the right frequency and said "Test. 072302, test. Is this a clear and secure connection? Over." Almost immediately I heard "072302, connection has been established without a hitch, Crash Lithium here, what's up Party Poison?" "Hey Crash, have you had any contact with Bandido recently? Over." We heard a laugh barely make it through the static and white noise. "You're joking aren't you? The last contact we had from Bandido was when she gave us a not-so-graceful farewell. Why, what's been going on?" I looked over at Frank for a second, who shrugged, before I said "She's not here anymore, she left and we don't know where she is, just checking she hadn't gone back to you guys at the Academy." "Nope, heard nothing from her since she left us. You want us to get some people looking for her?" "Nah, she wouldn't want people searching for her. Just make sure all your patrols know what she looks like so if they see her they can let us know, 'kay?" "Sure thing, Party. Is there anything else to report?" "No, nothing else, but we're thinking of raiding some of their warehouses or smaller buildings." "Well let me know if you need any other Killjoys to help you out, we sure have enough here that need to get out and about. Good luck and don't die on us. Over and out." "We'll try our best. Over and out." I turned off the transmitter and turned back to Frank.

"Raids? Really?" He had a slight glimmer in his eyes. I nodded. "She was right. We haven't done anything other than stealing away kids who don't really wanna be like us, and that's not helping anyone. Besides, they have other thugs for that." I packed the transmitter away and went back to tell the others of my plans, Frank following behind me.

Shortly after we set off, I heard a 'thud-oof-whisssh' and felt a tidal wave of sand flow over my feet. I shook it off and turned around to find Frank lying faced-down in the sand. "What the hell are you doing?" His reply was muffled by the sand. "Huh?" He lifted up his head, spat out a load of sand and repeated "I was skipping along and might have tripped over..." I burst into laughter as he stood up, face reddenning and brushing the sand off his clothes.

I was still laughing as he stormed off towards the others.


End file.
